In order to throw off their real agendas, mainstream radical Muslims work to placate – or at least confuse – those whom they perceive as their enemies. That was the case with the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), when the group congratulated the new Pope, while cursing Christians and Catholics everywhere.

On March 13, ICNA issued a press release "congratulating Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio on his election as the pope [Pope Francis] and leader of the worldwide Catholic Church." For a group such as ICNA to offer such well wishes for members of the Christian faith might seem strange, as the group has propagated much hatred towards Christians – and does so to this day.

ICNA was established in 1971 as an American function of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the Muslim Brotherhood movement of South Asia. The group based its beliefs on the teachings of Syed Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of JI and a rabid anti-Christian.

Young Muslims (YM) is the youth division of ICNA. On YM's official website is a book section containing the full text of Maududi's work, ‘Towards Understanding Islam.' In it, Maududi makes the claim that Jesus taught Islam and that Christianity was nothing more than a fabricated religion forged by Jesus' followers. Maududi states, "Although the religion taught by Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) was none but Islam, his followers reduced it to a hotchpotch called Christianity."

And according to the YM site, not only is Jesus a Muslim, but in the future, Jesus is going to abolish Christianity. In YM's ‘Signs Before the Day of Judgement,' the following quote is attributed to Prophet Muhammad: "‘Jesus son of Mary will be a just administrator and leader of my Ummah. He will break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizyah (tax on non-Muslims)… He will break the cross and kill pigs,' i.e. Christianity will be annulled."

Why Islam (WI) is ICNA's religious outreach or dawah center. To make the point of Jesus being a Muslim even stronger – as well as other biblical figures – WI has created a campaign to place billboards up in key areas of the nation. One of the billboards is currently located adjacent to a major highway in South Florida. Complete with an ICNA logo and contact information, it reads, "What do Abraham, Moses, Jesus & Mohammed have in common? Islam."

All of this entirely ignores the fact that Christianity predates Islam by roughly 600 years – and Judaism, much longer than that. But why worry about facts, when the main interest is bigotry?

Currently on ICNA's Why Islam site, the Christian Gospel is called a "corruption," Christians are labeled "deluded" for their beliefs, and "Allah" is called upon to "curse" and "destroy" them.

In WI's online version of the Quran, one reads: "The Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah;' and the Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the son of Allah.' That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them.] May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?"

On the press release congratulating the Pope, ICNA's President Naeem Baig is quoted as saying, "We hope that Catholics worldwide will benefit from the leadership of Pope Francis. We also hope and pray that he will work with religious leaders of all faiths to strive for peace and socio-economic justice across the world."

According to ICNA's corporation details, Baig has sat on ICNA's Board of Directors since June 2006. From then till now, ICNA and its various entities have propagated offensive and bigoted material against Christians and others. Given this information, why should anyone, especially someone describing himself/herself as a Christian or Catholic, believe that Baig is being at all honest in what he has said regarding the Pope? No one can.

The truth is that there are mainstream Muslim organizations within the United States who have sinister beliefs and worse goals. ICNA and its underlings attempt to subdue and/or confuse the public. They offer attractive-looking messages of peace and understanding, at the same time they propagate the worst of hatred and violence.